


you are your mother's child

by emrys (livingshitpost)



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AFAB Chara (Undertale), Abusive Parents, Abusive Relationships, Chara (Undertale) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Chara's Mother is Poncho Human, Child Abuse, Depression, Domestic Violence, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Kinfic, Misgendering, Nonbinary Chara (Undertale), Not Beta Read, Physical Abuse, Poncho human is called Reada, Pre-Canon, Reader is Chara (Undertale), Slurs, Soft Chara (Undertale), Suicidal Chara (Undertale), Suicidal Thoughts, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-13 22:31:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18040319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livingshitpost/pseuds/emrys
Summary: Your mother was a fighter, but she doesn't fight anymore. Her hands are wilted flowers.





	you are your mother's child

Your mother was a fighter. You know she was; you can see it in the way she holds herself. In the scars littering her arms and hands and face. It's as clear as the mousy brown hair that comes just past her chin and, more often than not, covers her heavily-lidded eyes.

But she doesn't fight anymore.

Her hands are wilted flowers, languid and listless, even as she holds you in her lap. You can feel the way her muscles tense as your father slams the cabinets in the kitchen. Her sigh is deep and melancholy as she stands, leaving you alone on the couch, and you scurry away to your room, attempting to drown out the sound of his screaming insults by hiding under your blanket. (It doesn't work. It never has. It never will.)

 

"She's a fuckin'  _monster_ ," you hear your father shout during one of his rages. "She's a cruel, snotty little bitch. She's no better than the things you fought!"

"Perhaps we were the monsters," she retorts. Her voice is dangerously level. "Perhaps I should have sided with them rather than demons like  _you_ , who would call our _child_ such terrible things."

A harsh  _SMACK_ rings through the house, easily penetrating the thin walls. 

"If anyone's a fucking demon in this house, it's HER! And she gets it from you, you dumb cunt!"

You curl further into yourself and wonder if the ache in your chest means you're finally dying.

 

Your mother holds you loosely in her arms. You close your eyes and rest your head on her chest, listening to the soft, steady beat of her heart.

Moments like this are rare.

"You're stronger than I am," she says quietly, petting your hair. "I can feel it." She chuckles a bit, and you can see her faint smile in your mind's eye. "I know you'll do great things, sweet pea."

You hum, content, and further relax into her. 

 

Your mother was a fighter. You can see it in the way tears flow freely down her cheeks, her bronze face now dark and blotchy. In the screams now erupting from her throat in retaliation against your father. In your defense. She doesn't stop you as you leave, but her words ring in your head.  _You're stronger than I am_. You don't see how that's possible. She helped seal the monsters underground. You're only eight years old, running away from home under the greyish pink and orange light of cloudy, dusky skies.

Your father's words ring in your head now, too.  _She's a fucking monster_. He'd said it more times than you could count.

Maybe you belong under the mountain with the rest of them. Those who climb the mountain never return, but perhaps that's exactly what you need.

Perhaps that's exactly what you  _want_.


End file.
